In his eight seasons as manager Jim Leyland got the Tigers close — but not close enough.

Two days after their loss to the Red Sox in Game 6 in the American League Championship Series Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowki announced Leyland is retiring on Monday morning at Comerica Park.

"I have told most all of you when it's time it's time — and it's time” Leyland said. “It’s time to step down from the managerial position of the Detroit Tigers.”

Leyland said he told Dombrowski on Sept. 7 after a series in Kansas City but they did not tell anyone else including the players.

Leyland 68 took the Tigers to the postseason four times in his tenure including three straight trips to the ALCS. With a loaded roster including Miguel Cabrera Justin Verlander and Prince Fielder Leyland got the Tigers to the World Series last season before being swept by the San Francisco Giants.

This year adding Torii Hunter and having one of the highest payrolls in baseball the Tigers had preseason expectations of winning the World Series which never materialized due in part to nagging injuries to Cabrera and Fielder’s ineffectiveness in the postseason.

“The fuel is starting to get low” said Leyland on Monday adding he’ll move to another undetermined position in the organization.

Leyland’s decision goes against his earlier stated hope and even the intention to continue to manage that he talked about during the season — so the failure to go to another World Series could have resulted in repercussions within the Tigers’ organization.

It’s possible the futures of some of his coaches were in doubt but earliest reports are that the 68-year-old Leyland informed the club that it’s time for someone younger to take over as manager of the Tigers.

The Tigers have won the American League Central three years in a row with Leyland at the helm. They’ve also been to the postseason in four of Leyland’s eight years.

But Leyland’s return as the Tigers’ manager was never certain as well.

“We never talk about it until the season is over” Leyland said when occasionally asked about it near the end of the season.